The EAH5870 V2 STALKER Edition ships in an attractive retail box with a large cover graphic made especially for the game bundle. A product key is included to download the game through Steam. Call of Pripyat is the latest title in the STALKER trilogy, and new features such as DirectX 11 support will take advantage of the 5870 capabilities to provide amazing graphic detail. Other than the game, this STALKER Edition card differs from the standard EAH5870 V2 in core frequency, by boosting the GPU speed from the reference 850MHz to a slightly overclocked 868MHz. Other accessories that come with the card include a quick setup guide, software and driver CDs, PCI-e power adapters, HDMI to DVI and DVI to VGA adapters and a CrossFire bridge.

The V2 cooler design incorporates a larger 85mm centrifugal fan and a modified shroud covering the heatsink underneath. Compared to the reference 5870 card design, the ASUS V2 also uses no backplate, leaving the PCB exposed.

The 6pin and 8pin power connectors have been moved from the top of the card around to the end, similar to their placement on a reference 5850. Although this may make routing power cables easier and cleaner looking, it may cause clearance issues in smaller computer cases. The EAH5870 V2 is 10½" long as it is. At the other end, one DVI port is given up in exchange for more cooling slots, however an HDMI to DVI adapter is included for those who run two or more monitors using Eyefinity.

Removing the EAH5870 V2 cooler we find that it utilizes an aluminum component plate with thermal pads covering the eight memory chips and the power mosfets. The GPU core contact block is made of copper, and has three heatpipes leading up into the full copper fin array.

As far as PCB layout, the ASUS V2 looks pretty similar to a reference board from around the GPU over towards the left of the card. Samsung K4610325FE-HC04 memory chips run at 1200MHz GDDR5, while the ATI 215-0735033 chip ID confirms this to be a 5870 core. However the right side where all the power components are located deviates significantly from the reference layout, with quite a few more capacitors and mosfets incorporated into the design.

After replacing the TIM and reattaching the cooler, let's get the EAH5870 V2 installed.